Twitter under Musk not doing enough to curb child abuse content despite his assurance

San Francisco: Despite Elon Musk saying that child abuse content on Twitter is being removed vigorously, a report has slammed the micro-blogging platform, saying that child sexual abuse imagery (CSAM) still persists on Twitter.

The New York Times found images containing 10 child abuse victims in 150 instances "across multiple accounts" on Twitter.

"Child sexual abuse imagery spreads on Twitter even after the company is notified: One video drew 120,000 views," the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection also uncovered 260 of the "most explicit videos" in its database on Twitter, which garnered over 174,000 likes and 63,000 retweets in total.

According to the report, Twitter actually promotes some of the images through its recommendation algorithm.

The platform reportedly took down some of the disturbing content after the Canadian Centre for Child Protection notified the micro-blogging platform.

In order to confirm The Times’s findings, the Canadian Centre ran a test to determine how often one video series involving known victims appeared on Twitter. Analysts found 31 different videos shared by more than 40 accounts, some of which were retweeted and liked thousands of times, as quoted by The Times.

The videos depicted a young teenager who had been extorted online to engage in sexual acts with a prepubescent child over a period of months. The Centre also did a broader scan against the most explicit videos in their database. There were more than 260 hits, with more than 174,000 likes and 63,000 retweets, as quoted by The Times.

“The volume we’re able to find with a minimal amount of effort is quite significant,” said Lloyd Richardson, the technology director at the Canadian centre. “It shouldn’t be the job of external people to find this sort of content sitting on their system”, he was quoted as saying.

In November last year, Musk slashed 15 per cent of its trust and safety staff (content moderation) saying it wouldn't impact moderation. Losing experienced staff failed to prevent the spread of abusive images previously identified by the authorities, the review by New York Times shows. Twitter also stopped paying for some detection software considered key to its efforts.

To find the material, Twitter relies on the software created by an anti-trafficking organization called Thorn. Twitter has not paid the organization since Musk took over.

Earlier this month, Twitter said it's "proactively and severely limiting the reach" of CSAM content and that the platform will work to "remove the content and suspend the bad actor(s) involved."

Musk had said that ‘removing child exploitation is priority #1’ in a tweet in late November.